set Leicestershire 283 on the last day on a pitch which was showing signs of wear. Shipman and Berry began with an opening partnership of 141 and there was more good batting fromArmstrong and Dawson. In the end Leicestershire got home by four wickets, with ten minutes of the extra half-hour remaining. The fine weather hid the clouds. Clark left for the leagues following a row with the county in 1930 but returned after a couple of years. Jupp gave up the captaincy in 1931 and missed the whole of the 1934 season with rheumatism. He was missing again in 1935, serving nine months in prison for manslaughter after a motor-cyclist died following a collision with a car driven by Jupp in January that year. He returned to the side in 1936, a season when Northamptonshire had five different captains. The decline now began in earnest for Northamptonshire and the holiday matches were no exception. Leicestershire won by an innings at Aylestone Road and by five wickets at Northampton in 1934. Then at the County Ground in 1935 Geary and Smith bowled unchanged throughout an innings’ victory. The margin was closer at Leicester in August; by 25 runs with only 15 minutes of extra time remaining after Northamptonshire led on the first innings by 127, Smith having match figures of 10-147. It was in 1935 that the 47-year-old Astill took over the captaincy, sometimes leading an all-professional side. The furniture magnate and cricket enthusiast Sir Julian Cahn ran his own teams on private grounds near Trent Bridge and at Stanford Hall, his home on the Nottinghamshire- Leicestershire border. Nottinghamshire had been the first to benefit from his largesse but in 1933 he was elected as Leicestershire’s representative on the Advisory Cricket Committee at Lord’s. In 1935 he appointed the New Zealand batsman Stewart Dempster, who was qualifying for the county, as manager of one of his furniture stores in Leicester. Dempster, who was to take over as captain, would not be available until 1936, hence the appointment of Astill for a single summer. It proved a popular and successful choice, the county having its best season to date, winning 11 matches out of 24 and finishing sixth. Northamptonshire were last, a place they would occupy from 1934 to 1938, but for a couple of years, they managed to escape from the holiday matches with a series of drawn games. Bakewell showed just what he might have achieved had he gone to Australia in 1936-37, carrying his bat for a superb 120 in a total of 211 at Leicester in 1936, the evergreen Astill taking seven for 30. Rain ruined this encounter and the August match was also unfinished, Bakewell making 151 out of 297, Dempster responding with a century for the visitors. In 1937, Jupp was in form with bat and ball but hopes of victory at Leicester in August after Northamptonshire led by 33 were dashed by Berry (184 not out) and Armstrong (100 not out), who shared an unbroken partnership of 243 for the second wicket. A declaration left Northamptonshire fending off defeat. New names were entering the lists. Frank Prentice, who made a big hundred and the Australian slow left-arm bowler Jack Walsh, who was to baffle hundreds of batsmen with his chinamen and googlies for years to come, were to the fore in Leicestershire’s Whitsun victory by an innings at Aylestone Road in 1938. In August, Leicestershire made 352 at the County Ground, Armstrong scoring 125. Northamptonshire fell one run short, Timms making a hundred, and they also provided three substitutes for opponents who were delayed by railway holiday traffic. The match fizzled out, the only other point of note being Geary’s last appearance in such games. At the end of the season he became coach at Charterhouse. Woolly Backs and Cobblers 104